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Table-tennis natural Lai Wai-ling stepped up to collect four awards worth a total of $110,000 at Monday night's Hong Kong Sports Stars Awards.

Along with the junior title worth $10,000 (and a free air ticket), the 17-year-old also claimed an ESPN STAR Sports Scholarship worth $15,000, the Team of the Year honour worth $50,000, and an additional special team prize from American International Assurance  (AIA) worth $30,000. It is the fourth consecutive year she has won a junior award

Wai-ling, a Form Five student at Choi Jun School in Sha Tin, is the world's No 1 mentally handicapped table-tennis player and is accustomed to winning such accolades.

Last year, Wai-ling, 17, proved she is the best when she won the singles title at the INAS-FID World Table Tennis Championships in Mexico.

She also linked up with teammate Wong Ka-man to win the doubles, and with Wong Man-yan, the trio made Hong Kong world champions.

'She is very ambitious and even tries to beat the male athletes when we hold training camps,' said Mark Chiu of the Sports Association for the Mentally Handicapped.

'She has improved a lot from training on the mainland with people at a higher or similar standard. We expected Wai-ling to do well in Mexico, but we were surprised that the girls also won the doubles and team event,' he added.

This year Wai-ling is aiming to win the Paralympic title in Athens. In 2000 at the age of 14, she tasted major success for the first time when she won the singles gold at the Sydney Paralympics.



Paddler scoops 4 awards